Lyell: Colorado State no longer an underdog against Mountain West's top teams

Feb. 12, 2013

San Diego State at CSU (CBS-SN) 8 p.m.

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There will be a Top 25 team battling for the Mountain West Conference title in the building, a national television audience and a crowd of more than 7,500 on Wednesday night when the CSU men’s basketball team takes on San Diego State.

Just like last year, right?

Only this time, Colorado State University is the team with a national ranking to protect and looking to gain an inside track to the MW title.

San Diego State (18-5, 6-3 MW), the preseason favorite, is a half-game behind the second-place Rams (19-4, 6-2) in the conference standings and sitting just outside the Top 25 in The Associated Press media poll this week.

Although San Diego State, at No. 22, is ranked two spots ahead of CSU in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, they’ll be the underdogs in this game. CSU has won 26 consecutive home games, the third-longest active streak in the nation and 13 of its past 15 games, with the two stumbles in that stretch coming a month ago at San Diego State in the MW opener and Feb. 23 at first-place and No. 19 New Mexico (20-4, 7-2).

This CSU team isn’t just competing for a berth in the NCAA Tournament, as the Rams were a year ago when they beat the Aztecs 77-60 before a sellout crowd of 8,745 at Moby. This CSU team is competing for the conference title as it begins its second run through the MW schedule. The Rams trail New Mexico by just a half-game and play the Lobos at home this time around. A win Wednesday night would push the Rams’ lead over the teams tied for third to two full games.

Although CSU’s resurgence remains somewhat of a secret in its own backyard, as the 1,000 or so empty seats Wednesday night will prove, the Rams have gained the attention of the rest of the nation. They were No. 15 this week – 13 spots ahead of the Aztecs – in the official Ratings Percentage Index used by the NCAA to help seed the 68-team postseason tournament and have been projected anywhere from a No. 6 to No. 9 seed by various bracketologists.

They’re pulling down an average of 13.8 rebounds a game more than their opponents, 3.5 a game more than any other NCAA Division I team in the country, and scoring an average of 13.8 points a game more than their opponents. Senior center Colton Iverson and senior forward Pierce Hornung average nearly a double-double apiece, with the 6-foot-10 Iverson scoring 13.8 points and grabbing 9.7 rebounds a game and the 6-5 Hornung at 9.6 points and 9.3 rebounds. Guards Dorian Green (12.6 points a game) and Wes Eikmeier (11.9) and forward Greg Smith (11.5) – all seniors – give the Rams five double-figure scorers a night if you round your numbers.

Sure, San Diego State has a talented lineup of its own, led by junior guard Jamaal Franklin and senior guard Chase Tapley, and beat the Rams in overtime a month ago in San Diego. But top to bottom, player for player, CSU stacks up favorably this year to San Diego State.

So, if there’s an upset Wednesday night at Moby, you won’t see CSU students storming the court as they did after last year’s win over the Aztecs. You’ll see them shuffling out in silence, wondering how the Rams let a top contender for the title come into their gym and steal a win.

That Bold New Era that athletic director Jack Graham has been talking about since he was hired 14 months ago? In men’s basketball, it’s already here.

Sports reporter Kelly Lyell can be reached by email at KellyLyell@coloradoan.com. Follow him at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news